The room contained an elaborately decorated desk, on top of which sat a statue of a man staring down upon an alien planet in which he held in the palm of his hand. Behind the desk, sitting larger than life, was an enormous, cushioned chair, that looked completely out of place, being something he'd expect to see as a throne in a majestic palace. In the center of the room, just behind the desk, hung a banner displaying two coiled serpents, one bright green and the other dark, wrapped around a strikingly blue world with a forest green background. Somebody thinks highly of themselves, Trent mused. Behind the banner Trent could discern a bed, much more luxurious than the bunks he'd seen in the previous rooms, adjacent a long, elegant dining table made of carved wood.
Sir Simwa strode into the room, hands on his hips, followed closely by another man, dressed in the blue and white uniform of the TSB. Sir Simwa took a seat behind the desk, rubbing his chin while crossing his leg. The other man scurried to grab a tiny chair from the far wall, placing it carefully before the desk. Trent toggled the maintenance PDU settings, selecting the audio option. He turned up the volume and began listening carefully.
“...do you have any idea who it might be?” he caught the end of Sir Simwa’s question, voice of nothing but arrogance. His blood continued to simmer, but he held himself back, knowing now was not the time...he needed information.
“No, My Lord,” the man dressed in the TSB started, his voice scratchy like a broken record, “the only people left on the TSB Fleet Base should be the faculty at the general, command, and officer training schools. Commander Talan has informed us that they have no interest in what is currently occurring on Earth base, so it would be highly unlikely any of Quinn's men would have noticed that we cut communications,” he leaned close as he finished, his mannerisms and look reminding Trent of a rat.
“Well then,” Sir Simwa sighed, “I guess it will be a surprise, won’t it? I want whoever it is captured alive. Do you understand, Commander Guo?” Sir Simwa smoothed the front of his green suit, appearing to not like the fit, or care about this Commander Guo’s response.
“Yes, My Lord. I will personally see to it once the Program registers which dock it will land,” Commander Guo responded, fidgeting as he spoke, “But, My Lord,” he started to continue, inching ever closer, “I am beginning to have concerns. Intercepted communications have stated that Princess Sasha survived the destruction of the ABF Princess One. If that is indeed the case, how will Duke Zehman seize control of the Alutia Duchy?” This sounded like the information Taku had been looking for. He quickly accessed his BC node and used the trick he'd been taught about how to automatically transcribe messages as he listened.
“Commander Guo, I am not paying you to think. As was agreed, your cooperation will be rewarded with a noble title once the duke regains control of this sector and forces the king to provide me the title of duke to rule over the Alutia Duchy,” Trent listened intently to Sir Simwa's words, trying to fit what was being said into his theory that this was all some grand corporate experiment. He wasn't having much luck. “The eventuality that the assassination would fail was well within our calculations,” he continued, leaning away from Guo. “All we really needed was to force Princess Sasha to try to intervene directly and come to the Earth star system. So you see, Commander Gou,” he leaned forward quickly and Guo almost jumped out of his seat, “once the TSB fleet is annihilated and Earth placed under our control, we can easily capture her,” he grinned, leaning back while taking a swig of a beverage in the goblet at his side, Guo seeming reluctant to lean close again. “This is actually the simpler route, you see, since it will allow me to marry the princess in an elevation ceremony and then quickly dispose of her in a......accident,” Sir Simwa’s lips curled into a malicious smile, a smile Trent would never forget, since it matched the one he wore when he pronounced Trent’s fate and attempted to carry it out. His anger started to boil forth as he slowly moved one hand towards his laser arc and the other towards the access port release icon.
“I am glad to hear that, My Lord. Your plan to fool everyone in the TSB into thinking this entire matter had to do with the Noble-Killer Quinn, by lying about the Earthling Trent attacking your honor, and not the recovery of the Alutia Duchy, was a work of brilliance,” Commander Guo's matching smirk vanished as Sir Simwa stormed to his feet, snarling in his direction. Trent froze his anger.
“Commander Gou,” he growled, “as I’ve explained to you countless times before, I would keep that particular piece of information to yourself,” he stormed around the desk, dragging Gou to his feat by his collar. “This is not over and that is privileged information I would rather not have fall into the hands of my enemies,” he paused, releasing the cowering Commander Guo, “I'd hate to have to remove you after all you have done for my cause, Commander Guo,” the menace in Sir Simwa’s words made even Trent’s skin shiver. Guo, apparently adept at begging for his life, collapsed to his knees.
“I'm sorry, My Lord, I will watch my tongue from now on,” he trembled with fear.
“That would be very wise,” Sir Simwa placed a boot on Guo’s shoulder, kicking him over. “Go monitor that incoming shuttle; I want to know the instant when it will arrive. Understand?” stated Sir Simwa.
“Of course, thank you for kindness, My Lord,” Guo rose to his feet, continuously bowing while he backed towards the door.
Trent, having regained control of his anger, completed the message to Taku, verifying that he did actually transcribe the entire conversation correctly, before sending. While he waited for the response, he started to go over his plan for storming out of the access port to take down Sir Simwa.
It’s all about timing, he knew. He would be clearly visible when he exited, so he needed to wait until Sir Simwa either retired for the night or his concentration turned elsewhere.
Taku's response came quicker then Trent would have expected. It stated that the incoming shuttle was top priority, and Trent was the only one in position to rescue whoever was onboard. He needed to move to personal shuttle bay one and await its arrival. Then, he needed to escort the passenger, by any means necessary, to the medical bay. From what Trent could gather from the brief message, Taku had a means to convince the Program responsible for the docking system to force the shuttle to land in personal shuttle bay one while reporting a different bay to docking control.
Trent stared at the projection of Sir Simwa, “Damn,” cursing under his breath. It would take him almost an hour to reach what he figured was personal shuttle bay one, located immediately after the hanger bay. Holding his frustration in check, swearing he would, in the end, get his revenge, he started shuffling back in the direction from which he came, prepared to greet this new arrival.
*********
“Helm, increase speed by 12.4 mps and keep an eye on Mars One, they're adjusting speed before informing the battle group...and you know I don’t like falling behind!” Daniel glanced over his shoulder at Captain Aysi, who paced just behind him as she circled the bridge, arms crossed, staring intently at the battle space being projected above the CID. The fleets were a little under ten minutes from max weapons range of one million kilometers.
The HZBF invasion fleet had not been idle as the TSB fleet made its move, adjusting their formation and speed in an attempt to counter the TSB’s plan for a passing engagement. They’d maneuvered from the standard “wall” formation, to a “piercing”, or single file formation while decelerating to 1000 mps. The TSB fleet had, in direct response, maneuvered into an enveloping, or circular formation, while increasing speed to 100,000 kps.
The revised plan was devised by the Commander of the Alutia Battle Fleet, a Knight Admiral Bhool, who'd been recovered from the destroyed ABF Princess One. Her plan was simple. By adjusting to an “envelop” formation the TSB fleet would be able to alter their angle on their plane of momentum to allow the full firepower of each starship to be brought to bear while limiting target opportunities for the enemy. On the other hand, the HZBF invasion fleet would be requir
ed to split their firepower amongst the TSB starships on all sides, or concentrate on only a tiny portion, which was unlikely, given the TSB EW frigates ability to mask their numbers and true locations. They were, however, still outnumbered two to one, but the odds were actually much worse, since the majority of the TSB starships were the smaller cruisers, frigates, and corvettes, while the HZBF starships consisted of not only cruisers, frigates, corvettes, battleships, and dreadnaughts, but also seven, 40 kilometer super-capital ships, and fourteen, 10 kilometer capital ships. For reference, one super-capital ship had 1600 large LPAs, while the entire TSB fleet of 304 starships, had only 548 large LPAs at their disposal.
Daniel's heartbeat matched the seconds as they continued to tick away, the inevitable approaching. His display flashed, zooming in on the lead HZBF battle group as he began receiving target sector priorities. He quickly assigned each of the TSB Ero’Cia LPA groups a target, while assisting the automated targeting system in identifying the false gravity, solar, and interstellar anomalies not swept clean by the defensive EW systems.
“Ma'am, two minutes till max weapons range, holding steady at 100,004.12 kps,” informed Commander Rew’Da in a voice so calm that Daniel knew it forced.
“Thank you, helm. Angle us 45 by negative 45, and maintain velocity with maneuvering thrusters,” Captain Aysi ordered. A moment later the variable maneuvering thrusters lining the edges of the starship activated, angling them down and to the right while maintaining the same trajectory on their momentum. They would rotate continuously once they reached weapon’s range, allowing all the LPAs circling the hull to fire uninterrupted, during the 20.2 seconds they would be within weapon’s range.
Unknown anomalies and false starship signatures multiplied faster than Daniel could verify, born of both enemy and friendly EW. The secondary tactical officer station within the combat system station, or CSS, linked in, but was of little help, “Though I can’t really blame her, can I?” Daniel whispered, knowing Nora was still a recruit in the officer academy, having been a last minute substitute for the injured primary tactical officer, Lieutenant Taku, with little experience in EW recognition. A third station tied in a moment later, and the false EW signatures began to vanish at an unbelievable speed. Daniel glanced to his right, and as he expected, XO Geoff's station displayed tactical. He cursed himself for needing the help of the XO, before turning his attention back to the anomalies.
“Ten, nine, eight, seven, six,” the countdown to contact originated from the helm, “five, four, three, two...” a sudden calm swept over Daniel’s mind during the fleeting seconds between the finished countdown and the order of Captain Aysi he knew was to come.
“Fire all LPAs!” the captain’s booming shout broke the silent calm. Daniel punched the fire icon, ordering all his LPAs to enter auto-fire mode on their selected target.
The first salvo of LPA beams streaked between the dueling starships at the speed of light. A few found targets, the kinetic energy of the densely packed neutrons being absorbed by the energy shields, or ESSs, while the trailing actual energy was vectored away. As predicted, the HZBF split its fire between the TSB fleet’s entire “envelop” formation, not concentrating on any single battle group or “false” battle group signatures being created by the TSB EW frigates.
Two unlucky EW frigates blew as their fake battle group signatures pulled fire away from the real battle groups. Ten screening HZBF frigates vanished in unison, while two corvettes flickered then blew, their NSD's pierced as their ESS’s failed. An HZBF cruiser suddenly spun out of formation, propulsion system damaged, causing its fellows to maneuver frantically out of its path.
LPAs continued sweeping across the TSB fleet. A few wayward beams striking the Ero'Cia, but being easily brushed aside by their ESS. The majority of TSB starships avoided damage, only a few small LPAs breaking through weakened shields. Any damage caused to the hull was immediately repaired as the reserve supply of liquid tilitium programmable matter that every starship held filled the holes. The process was similar to how a body would heal a wound, with the liquid programmable matter “clotting” wherever a “wound” was detected, but significantly faster.
The small and medium LPAs continued to pour almost continuous fire between the fleets as the large LPAs charged, weakening ESSs, but rarely providing enough punch to inflict catastrophic damage. The large LPAs finished their charging phase sent a second salvo of death speeding across the darkness of space.
“Fire plasma cannon!” Captain Aysi shouted the moment the range to contact ticked below 500,000 km. Daniel slammed the flashing icon, releasing the twirling beam of purple plasma that formed on the nose of the starship, to intermingle with the plasma beams erupting from the rest of the TSB fleet, on a direct course for the NHA Super-Capital HZBF Relus, whose screening support had scattered when the cruiser spun out of control seconds before.
The second salvo of large LPAs struck the TSB lines and Daniel cringed as he realized this time they wouldn’t be so lucky. The flagship of the 2nd TSB battle group, in which the TSB Ero’Cia was assigned, the NHA Battleship TSB Mars One split apart in an instant, its ESS overwhelmed by hundreds of simultaneous large LPA strikes. Small and medium LPA’s followed, a single beam piercing its NSD core.
Daniel braced himself as a gravitational shockwave was set loose. Shearing waves of gravity, like a massive invisible tornado tearing through space, struck the starships of the 2nd TSB battle group. The TSB Ero'Cia shook violently as the GM field was unable to fully compensate for the disruptive forces. The moment the starship felt as if it would break apart, lights flashing and stations going dim, the Mars One’s NSD core’s unstable singularity containment collapsed around the exposed, artificial neutron star. The lights steadied, and his station returned, but the battle group targeting feed was dead, battle group command having died in the violent collapse of the Mar’s One’s NSD core.
He didn't think, just acted, falling into his training, picking targets at will. Two more TSB battleships blew, along with a number of cruisers, corvettes, and frigates, many caught in the subsequent violent gravitational shockwaves. Screening frigates and corvettes from the HZBF battle groups continued to vanish one after the other as the TSB LPAs reached their targets, breaking holes in the tight formation to provide clear shots at the juicier targets within. A newly unprotected HZBF battleship blew while a dreadnaught and three cruisers were forced to fall out of formation, spewing clouds of atmosphere and debris.
Then, the plasma beams struck.
Daniel joined a round of cheers as the NHA Super-Capital HZBF Relus flickered, its enormous ESS trying desperately to absorb the gigantic amount of kinetic and actual energy contained within the 40 plasma beams that struck home. For a moment, it appeared the massive shield would hold, bending inward in a valiant attempt to defy its inevitable demise.
But it was not enough.
A single plasma beam broke through, the ESS vanishing, allowing the rest to tear through the starship’s 50 meter thick tilitium hull like it didn’t exist. One beam passed through starships rear, piercing the 8 km high NSD core. A moment later it vanished in a sudden flash, a massive gravitational shockwave erupting that sheered the flanking HZBF starships. A capital ship, two dreadnaughts, and four battleships, flickered, then vanished as the unstable singularity containment collapsed around the exposed, artificial neutron star. The smaller screening vessels that survived unscathed, tried desperately to regain formation with the only remaining capital ship within the lead battle group.
“One down...six to go...” Daniel whispered as he noticed a considerable drop in EW anomalies as the super-capitals containment field finished collapsing, both the recondiverse and standard space stabilizing.
The HZBF’s plasma beams swirled well off target, the majority being pulled towards the “false” TSB battle groups being created by the EW frigates. Two more TSB cruisers suddenly vanished, LPAs slicing through unshielded armor when their ESS’s failed, while two corvettes blinked, spewing oxygen
and crewmen into space, before breaking apart and vanishing from his screen.
The third salvo of large LPAs fired. Two HZBF dreadnaughts, struck in the lightly shielded rear, flickered then vanished, while a multitude of frigates and corvettes blew on all sides, protecting the larger starships from the deadly fire.
“Brace for impact!” Captain Aysi shouted as a super-capital targeted their battle group, pouring hundreds of large LPA beams their way. The NHA Battleship TSB Jupiter Two, which had taken command of the battle group when the TSB Mars One was destroyed, absorbed the brunt of the attack, breaking in two after its ESS failed to withstand the hundred of simultaneous strikes.
Daniel's head slammed into the tactical PDU as the TSB Ero'Cia bucked wildly from connecting enemy LPA beams. An explosion racked the bridge, throwing Daniel from his station to tumble across the floor, bouncing painfully to a stop on his side as stars filled his vision and smoke assailed his nostrils.
“Direct hit to sections seven and twelve! Sending emergency engineering teams! Secondary explosions in section one, three, eight, nine, ten...” Lieutenant Pablo screamed the damage report as the Ero'Cia lost its GM field for an instant. Daniel flew through the air to slam against the wall, somehow landing on his feet as the gravity returned. He stumbled back to his station, wiping the blood free from his eyes. Relief poured over him as he found that they'd finally exited weapons range...it’s over.
“Com! Inform fleet we are taking command of the 2nd TSB battle group. Helm, 90 degree burn! Medical team to the bridge! We have seriously wounded!” Captain Aysi shouted, her voice unnatural, drained of all the expected emotion. Daniel turned, wondering what would cause the change in the always boisterous Captain Aysi.
Lying on the floor next to his station was Executive Officer Geoff, having caught a piece of flying debris in the side of his head, spilling its contents across the base of the bridge.
Alutia Rising, Anniversary Edition (Alutia Rising Series, Book 1) Page 28